OK, look, this is just messed up
Apr. 7th, 2004 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerACLU Files Suit Over 'No-Fly' List
Air Passengers Seek Changes in 'Flawed' System
So what they're saying is that the TSA bought this system (a private company developed CAPPS for the government) but neither the developer nor the TSA anticipated the need to remove false positives from the list, and the only alternative the TSA has won't help people?
And the list hasn't actually demonstrably stopped anyone from getting on a plane? (I love the implicit assumption that terrorists are going to show up and use real ID, though the whole Ryder incident in the first WTC attack somewhat justifies thinking that at least some terrorists are butt-stupid.)
Once again, Appleby's False Syllogism of Politics strikes ("We must do something/This is something/We must do this.")
Air Passengers Seek Changes in 'Flawed' System
A secret "no-fly" list the federal government maintains of terrorist suspects has been used to humiliate and stigmatize innocent citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday in filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of seven individuals.
The Transportation Security Administration provides the list to airline and security personnel to alert them to people who should be stopped before they board a commercial airline. The agency plans to use the list, along with other databases of suspected terrorists, as part of a new passenger-screening program called Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II, which is expected to begin later this year. The CAPPS II program aims to rate the risk posed by every airline passenger traveling through the United States.
TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said the passengers' frustrating experience demonstrated a need for the new system, which is designed to better distinguish innocent travelers from terrorist suspects with the same name before they arrive at the airport. Until the new system gets started, there is little the agency can do for the passengers, besides write a letter verifying their identity.
"The no-fly list is an important part of aviation security and we're very confident about its accuracy," Hatfield said. The problem, he said, is the agency has an outdated system to verify passengers' identities. Hatfield said he was not aware that the no-fly list had helped capture any suspected terrorists. But he said it served as a useful deterrent.
(snip)
Fathi and Hay said they received letters from the TSA verifying their identities, but it hasn't been much help. TSA "could not promise that there would be no delays or that I wouldn't be stopped in the future," Hay said.
So what they're saying is that the TSA bought this system (a private company developed CAPPS for the government) but neither the developer nor the TSA anticipated the need to remove false positives from the list, and the only alternative the TSA has won't help people?
And the list hasn't actually demonstrably stopped anyone from getting on a plane? (I love the implicit assumption that terrorists are going to show up and use real ID, though the whole Ryder incident in the first WTC attack somewhat justifies thinking that at least some terrorists are butt-stupid.)
Once again, Appleby's False Syllogism of Politics strikes ("We must do something/This is something/We must do this.")
